Improving Your Health

If you or a family member are in need of home-health care, you may be tempted to allow these services to be provided by another trusted family member or to hire an aide outright. While this arrangement may work and may be the less expensive option, it is usually not the most ideal situation. Not only could this make you liable for any accidents or injuries that take place in your home, but it really may not be the cheapest option. When you hire help through a home-care agency, you will not have to worry about the stress of finding a qualified provider. They will do that as well as offer you many other benefits.

Home-Care Agencies Are Often Covered by Long-Term Care Insurance

The average annual cost of a full-time home-health aide is approximately $46,000. This could be more or less depending on where you live as well as how many hours of care you or your loved one will be requiring. Even if a friend or qualified family member agrees to provide you with a discounted rate of $15 per hour if you are willing to pay them in cash or under the table, a year at 40 hours per week will still run you more than $31,200. Unfortunately, if you agree to their terms and are not issuing a check, you will usually have to pay this out of pocket without any type of reimbursement.

Anytime you need help with more than two of your activities of daily living, or ADLs, such as bathing, dressing, transferring, walking, and so forth, you qualify for long-term care. If you have invested in a long-term care policy and hire a home healthcare agency, you may be able to be reimbursed for some or all of the care provided by the agency. Although the total cost that you are able to file will depend on the terms, conditions, and coverage amounts contained within your policy, this potential reimbursement may make the cost you are paying the agency less expensive.

Home-Health Agencies Will Do the Hiring for You

You can never be too careful about who you bring into your home. Unfortunately, not everyone has your best interests in mind. Statistics suggest that as many as 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 60 has suffered some type of elder abuse, and many have suffered this abuse at the hands of their caretakers. When you attempt to hire your own caregivers, you will find the following:

You need to be an HR department— Not only will you have to hire, but you have to be prepared to fire, especially if care is not being provided at the level you need.

You need to be a job coach—You will be responsible for providing any type of training related to the care that you or your loved one needs. In addition, you will have to provide all of the in-home supervision that the person requires in order to ensure that job is being done at the level it should be.

You need to be an accountant—If you attempt to hire someone above board, you have to be prepared to pay payroll taxes, pay FICA, and file the required tax forms at tax time.

You need to act as a detective and more—Do not consider bringing anyone into your home without performing a full background check. These should include full reference checks, as well as criminal background and credit checks.

By the time you get the right person in place, you have normally spent a considerable amount of time weeding through several unsuccessful applicants. This can take a considerable amount of time that you often do not have if you are needing help right away.

When you hire a home-health agency you will not have to perform any of these tasks. They will not only perform them for you but also maintain a pool of competent aides that will be willing to start as soon as you need them, and along with your supervision, the agency will provide the training and in-home supervision that the aides require.

Do not feel that you have to go through this process alone. If you put a price tag on your time, you may find that you will come out much further ahead by hiring a healthcare agency such as In Your Home Care to provide the in-home care that you need.

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About Me

A few months ago, I got the wake-up call of a lifetime. I was diagnosed with a serious, ongoing medical condition, and I knew that I needed to step up my efforts to improve my health. Instead of ignoring how I was feeling, I started working hard to exercise and eat right. I started eating mostly fruits and veggies, which really helped me to feel whole again. I also began exercising daily, and it made a powerful change with my energy levels. This blog is all about health and wellness, in addition to seeking the medical treatment you need to be your best self.